


Polished players

by Fandoms_are_my_lifestyle



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, M/M, Male Homosexuality, Nail Polish, Pretty setter paints his nails, Short One Shot, literally this is just fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-01
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-13 10:08:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9118963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fandoms_are_my_lifestyle/pseuds/Fandoms_are_my_lifestyle
Summary: Akaashi Keiji wears nail polish.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Tiny little one shit inspired by a conversation I had with [doodledevil](https://www.instagram.com/doodledevil/) that Akaashi is the kind of person who likes to do his nails, and since it's our personal head cannon that Bokuto is an artist, Bokuto enjoys doing his nails.
> 
> Esther, as always, this is for you.
> 
> Warning for homophobic slurs I'M SORRY! I don't agree with anything those characters said I PROMISE DON'T KILL ME

Akaashi Keiji has a secret.

It’s not a bad thing, nor is he ashamed of it, but he’s kept it a secret from his boyfriend because he doesn’t know if Bokuto would understand.

The thing about his boyfriend is that Koutarou is masculinity personified. From his carefully styled hair to his beautiful muscles everywhere, Koutarou’s aesthetic screams jock, and frankly Keiji loves him for it. He loves how strong his boyfriend is, how handsome, how confident.

Except.

Keiji feels bad, sometimes, that he’s never told Bokuto. Really. But it never seemed that important, and it just never came up.

Who cares if Keiji likes to wear nail polish sometimes, right? It’s not that big of a deal.

He still doesn’t tell Koutarou, though.

* * *

Painting his nails is soothing.

The vertical sway of the tiny brush runs up and down the nail of his index finger, spreading glossy onyx in an even line. The rhythm lets him focus his thoughts, clear his mind, get back into his headspace without panicking. He only ever does this when he feels too out-of-control, but practice had been rough today and he was missing his boyfriend, as the third year had been out sick all week. Everything was just piling up on his shoulders, and-

He’d decided to paint his nails.

He’s never been more adventurous than using black, or very dark blues and greens, but he enjoys the way the color seems to elongate his fingers and make them look pretty.

_Pretty nails for a pretty setter - oh, how fitting._

He’ll have to take it off before he returns to school Monday morning, seeing as if there are rules against girls wearing nail polish the staff certainly would not allow him to break the rules.

For now, though, he can wear it at home, and his mom - a supportive single mother who bought Keiji his first bottle of polish after he expressed his interest - would remind him to take it off.

He was _not_ expecting a surprise visit from his boyfriend.

He’d finished painting and was blowing on his nails to make them dry when Bokuto had burst into his room, already shouting.

“HEY, HEY, HEY, KEIJI, SURPRISE - oh hey, what’s that?”

The older boy’s eyes gleamed gold as they took in the black bottle sitting in front of Keiji, and as they slowly moved towards the younger boy’s hands, which were now curled protectively into fists.

“Hello, Bokuto-san.” Keiji said quietly. He’s unsure of what’s going to happen, but he can’t help feeling more than a little wary - what if Koutarou insults him? What if he breaks up with Keiji because Keiji’s weird and likes girly things? What if-

“Are you painting your nails, Keiji?!?”

“... Yes, Bokuto-san.”

“Can I see?!?”

Keiji nervously extends his trembling hands towards his boyfriend, palms facing the floor. “I can take it off if it bothers you…” He mumbles quietly, but Koutarou doesn’t seem to hear him.

“THAT’S SO COOL, KEIJI! YOUR HANDS ARE SO PRETTY!”

Keiji withheld a sigh of relief.

“I’m glad you think so, Koutarou.”

His boyfriend kisses him then, and Keiji promptly forgets about everything he was worried about.

* * *

Later on, Koutarou asked Keiji why he likes to paint his nails. Keiji explained the best he can about the rhythm and the soothingness of the action, struggling to find the words to make his boyfriend understand. He need not have worried, though, as Koutarou nudges Keiji’s shoulder playfully and teases him about being afraid to show him, because, in Bokuto’s own words, “have you forgotten that I’m planning on majoring in art, Keiji? I paint all the time, _baka_ ”.

Keiji thinks he’s never loved his boyfriend more.

* * *

It was on one of his planned visits home from university that Koutarou decided to surprise Keiji with a question.

“Can I paint your nails, Keiji? _PLEASE_?”

Keiji started in surprise, not having anticipated such a question from his boyfriend.

“What?”

It had been awhile since that first time Bokuto had seen Akaashi with his nails done, and it was not the last - Keiji often wore nail polish around his boyfriend now, since Koutarou seemed to have no problem with it. Bokuto, however, had never expressed interest in _doing_ Keiji’s nails before.

“Please? I even brought you a present! **BUT** you only get if you let me paint your nails. So? So? Can I? Can I please?”

Keiji could have laughed at his boyfriend’s excited voice, but he chose instead to chuckle and reply.

“Of course, Kou.”

“ _Yes!_ ”

Koutarou hastily untangled himself from his boyfriend and ran to his bag, pulling out a smaller plastic bag.

“Look!”

Keiji took the bag from his boyfriend, and its contents made him gasp. “Kou…”

He pulled out the bottle of metallic golden paint and gazed at it in wonderment. “Kou, you shouldn’t have.”

“But I wanted too!” Koutarou said energetically. “Do you like it?”

Keiji stared at the bottle in his hand. Never before has he dared to wear such a bright, attention catching color, but for Koutarou Keiji would do anything.

“I love it.”

* * *

_“Is the captain of Fukurodani wearing nail polish?”_

_“What the heck, that’s so weird.”_

_“Ew, do you think he’s gay?”_

Keiji fought to keep his head raised as he pretended not to hear the scathing words falling from the mouth of the player standing besides him at the sink. Bokuto had come home specifically for this occasion, to watch Keiji and his team play in Nationals, and Keiji had asked him to paint his nails as a good luck charm. Koutarou had eagerly accepted, of course, and had decorated Keiji’s hands with strips of black, white, and gold to match Keiji’s uniform. No douchebag from Nohebi was going to make him feel bad about his nails - not today.

“Hey you!”

Keiji turned to face the players, face set impassively. “Hm?”

“Why are you wearing nail polish? You a fag or something?”

“Excuse me?”

“Well? Are you?”

“I don’t believe that’s any of your business.”

“C’mon, bro!” One of the players exclaimed. “It’s just a question, no big deal, just give us an answer!”

“No, thank you.” Keiji stated monotonously and turned to shut off his faucet, but the player would not be dissuaded, following Keiji into the hallway.

“Come on, man, I’m just curious! After all, only girls and _gays_ wear nail polish.”

“Excus-”

“Keiji, are these guys bothering you?” Koutarou had come to rescue him. Thank god.

“It’s okay, Bokuto-san, they were just leaving. Right?”

The two Nohebi players eyed the newcomer uneasily - at almost 186 centimeters, Koutarou towered over them both - and hastily agreed, leaving the two alone.

Keiji sagged into his boyfriend’s arms and brought his hand up to his face, eying his nails contemplatively.

He would never be ashamed of his boyfriend’s art. He was proud to wear it.

And during the match Fukurodani played against Nohebi, Keiji privately thought he had never set better.

* * *

“Babe, hold still, or I’m going to mess up!”

Golden eyes met blue as Koutarou looked up the brush he was holding and into Keiji’s eyes. The elder had been working on this design for the better part of an hour already - black, white, and gold polish intertwined like rope so that it almost looked like a volleyball. Koutarou wanted it to be perfect - it was, after all, his own personal good luck charm to his boyfriend before Keiji started his first year of university.

“I’m not worried,” Keiji replied softly. “I know you’ll make it perfect.”

And looking around their new apartment, only a ten minute walk from the university they would now both be attending, Keiji knew he was right.

_Koutarou would make everything perfect._

**Author's Note:**

> Akaashi's first nail design: [here](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/46/54/5e/46545ebdd91fa62064465a7ead8ba582.jpg)
> 
> Akaashi's second nail design: [here](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/04/0d/9b/040d9ba65ed75d0767e699197e65a5ef.jpg)
> 
> My tumblr: [fandoms-are-my-lifestyle](http://fandoms-are-my-lifestyle.tumblr.com/)


End file.
